Tendrils of Ice
by Sardixiis
Summary: The unsub has been identified, and the only thing left to do is find him and bring him in. It shouldn't be that hard, but when bad weather gets in the way, the killer may not be the only one the team needs to locate.
1. Chapter 1  Beginning or End?

Chapter One – Beginning or End?

"They're doing better than I thought."

SSA Aaron Hotchner glanced across the front seat of the SVU toward his teammate, Jennifer Jareau, before focusing where he was going again.

"It probably hasn't really sunk in yet," he answered.

She nodded and returned her attention to the dark, icy Colorado road before them. It took her a few moments to find a comfortable position again. Finding a good place for a seat belt the first time she'd been pregnant hadn't been easy, and the second was no different.

They were on their way back from the Nichols' home. Their only child, Sean, had been the most recent victim of Karl Milton, the killer the BAU had been tracking for almost three days. The profile had been set and distributed and the unsub identified. The only problem now was locating him.

Hopefully before more victims turned up.

"We might get back later than we thought with this snow," JJ mused.

When they'd left to join the rest of the team the snow had only been falling lightly. Over the last half hour though, the snow had begun to increase, accumulating on the road. They had to keep the windshield wipers going almost constantly in order to see.

Hotch had fallen silent, eyes fastened on the road ahead. While silence wasn't unusual for the expressionless unit chief, JJ could tell that this time the reason was the road conditions. Even with how carefully he was driving, the car still skidded at times.

Grabbing her phone to let the rest of the team know they would probably be late, she noticed the battery was almost dead. Not a surprise with the cold temperatures, and easily remedied when they reached the station.

"Reid? We're on our way back now. It might be awhile yet. The roads are pretty bad."

"_Learn anything new?"_

"Not much. They had never heard the name before. How about you guys?"

"_A few leads. Garcia is still digging too. He uses a lot of different addresses for mail. Mostly magazines. Did you know there are thirty seven th-"_

"Bye, Reid," JJ cut him off, knowing that if she hadn't he would have continued rambling about magazine statistics for hours.

As JJ returned her phone to the pocket of her coat, movement on the periphery of her vision caught her attention.

"Hotch!"

Hotch slammed on the brakes to avoid a collision with the deer that had darted onto the road. The wheels slid despite the anti-lock breaks, the edge of the road coming up all too quickly. Yanking the steering wheel to the left in an attempt to stop their fishtailing and prevent them from going off the road, Hotch's face was creased in focus and concern. A concern that only increased as the car spun into a near one eighty, the back wheels finding only air.

"Shit."

It wasn't a yell of panic only because Hotch refused to display his emotions. They stayed locked in a tightly sealed steel box inside of him. Practice over the years had made it incredibly easy for him to keep them there no matter the situation.

As the back wheels left the road and the tail end of the SUV plummeted into the ditch JJ yelped Hotch's name once more, eyes wide in fright. One arm automatically snapped out to brace herself against the door, the other curling protectively around her seven month belly.

The next few moments were a jumbled rush of fear, spraying snow, and a nauseating spinning. It all came to a sudden stop when the rear driver's side of the vehicle smashed into the trees at the bottom of the ditch. The impact rocked the SUV, slamming the two FBI agents around like rag dolls.

The last thing JJ remembered was the sickening crunch of metal before everything went dark.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, but I guess I'm the type of person to just dive in head first. This thing is incredibly long. Yes, it's already completely finished, so hopefully I'll get more than one chapter up each day as long as life doesn't eat me. Of course, things may take a bit longer if my pre-screening readers or any reviewers suggest improvements that might change a later chapter. Hopefully at least someone out there will enjoy it. If not, well, I had to get it out of my head and down on paper anyways.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2 Emotion and Stability

Chapter Two – Emotion and Stability

JJ groaned, her eyes slowly sliding open. Everything was dead silent, like the world had simply ended. She shifted slightly causing pain to shoot through her entire body.

What had just happened? Why could she barely breathe?

Another shift told her that she could barely move either. Being a profiler, JJ was quite good at analyzing a situation. Figuring out what had happened shouldn't have been hard, yet she found herself at a loss. Her mind was spinning and the puzzle before her had too many pieces of the same shape and color.

Forcing herself to slow her breathing despite the constriction against her chest, she was finally able to start focusing on one piece at a time.

The seat belt.

The seat belt was the reason she couldn't breathe. It had locked tight against her and wouldn't loosen. Fumbling with her left hand, she managed to find the seat belt release. It snapped free, immediately allowing her to get more air into her lungs.

JJ leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes as she took a few deep breaths. It was okay. Everything was okay.

Unlike most people, it took JJ only a few moments to gather herself together enough to think calmly about the situation, a minor perk of being an FBI agent. Her head hurt, yes, but that wasn't all that surprising after an accident. There was a dull ache in her abdomen, but it wasn't the stabbing pain that would worry her during a pregnancy. The pain was likely just from the seat belt. Besides that, she just felt sore.

Confident that she had no serious injuries, Agent Jareau turned her attention to her boss. The fact that he was still unconscious didn't bode well.

"Hotch?" She called as she gently touched his shoulder. A flicker of fear trickled through JJ when she saw a trace of blood in the cracked glass of the side window Hotch's head was leaning against.

"Oh God, Hotch."

Her fingers darted to his throat, searching desperately for a pulse. When she felt the steady beat, she sighed in relief. Hotch shifted slightly, moaning, and JJ's heart nearly skipped a beat.

"Hotch?"

"JJ?" His voice was weak and confused, but incredibly reassuring to JJ. He was alright.

"Try to stay still. You're bleeding."

As usual, Hotch did what he wanted to do. Pressing his hand to his temple, he found the source of the blood that had terrified JJ earlier.

"It's not too deep."

How Hotch could appear so calm and in control only seconds after he had woken up covered in blood JJ had no idea. It didn't surprise her though. Hotch always acted like this. Nothing ever seemed to faze him. JJ could stand before a barrage of reporters without batting an eye, but even she had been a bit off balance when she'd woken. Taking a page from the unit chief's book and her own mother's handbook, JJ gently turned his chin so she could see, her face perfectly calm.

He was right. The cut didn't seem bad despite all of the blood. She caught him watching her, his expression still impassive.

"We still need to try and stop the bleeding," she pointed out.

"Later."

JJ couldn't help the slight smile that drifted across her face at that answer. It was so Hotch. While the rest of the situation was unsettling, Hotch's rock solid behavior was a stability JJ greatly appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3 Battle of Wills

Chapter Three – Battle of Wills

"It's no use. It won't turn over."

Hotch released the keys, the sound of the clicking ignition dying. There was no way they were getting out of the ditch now even if their car had been able to make it up the snowy bank.

"We couldn't have made it out with all of the snow falling anyway," JJ pointed out. The wind and snow had picked up since they had crashed, leaving the already darkening night in near white-out conditions.

"Have you managed to get through to the team?"

JJ shook her head, visibly disappointed.

"There's not a strong enough signal, and my battery is almost dead."

Hotch nodded, his mind already processing possible options. Without a solid signal they couldn't call for help, and there was no getting out of this alone. Worse yet, the temperature was only going to drop as the night went on and the heat left over from earlier cooled. It would be better to stay in the car though, cold as it would become. At least they wouldn't be out in the elements.

The sound of ruffling papers dragged him out of his thoughts.

"JJ?"

"I think we have a small fist aid kit somewhere in here. I just have to find it before you bleed to death," JJ explained as she continued digging through the glove compartment.

Hotch gave her a blank look at the bleed to death comment. JJ grinned in response, obviously teasing. It brought the smallest trace of a smile to Hotch's usual hard face.

A smile that disappeared a moment later when JJ started trying to climb over the seat.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking the back," she answered nonchalantly as she continued to shift her body to try and get a leg between the seats and into the back.

Hotch immediately caught his coworker's arm in a vice grip.

"I'll check. You stay here."

He realized right away that it was the wrong way to go about stopping her. JJ glared daggers at him, her blue eyes lit with a determined fire. She wasn't going to back down to him. Not over something so stupid. Not when he was hurt.

"JJ," Hotch warned, though his tone was hardly threatening. "You're seven months pregnant. You shouldn't be crawling between seats."

JJ desperately wanted to snap back at him that she would be fine, but deep down she knew he was right. Crawling from the front of a car to the back wasn't easy even without the extra weight and lack of balance. He was bleeding though. If he tried to make his way back there he would only trail blood across both sets of seats. That is if he even made it that far.

"Help me?" she asked, trying for something that would work for them both.

Knowing how stubborn JJ could be, Hotch just gave in. His shirt was already red from the blood dripping down his face. The longer he argued the more blood there would be, which meant the more JJ would fight him.

Shifting slightly, Hotch held JJ steady under the arm so she could get into the backseat without falling over and hurting herself and her child. JJ knew enough to pull the backseat down to start climbing into the truck without him needing to say a word. It only took her a few minutes to find the emergency supplies and crawl back into the backseat.

And right into her boss.

"Dammit, Hotch! You were supposed to stay put."

Agent Hotchner shrugged and pointed to the napkin he had pressed to his forehead.

"Thank Morgan for not cleaning up after himself. Besides, there's more room back here. It's where I would have ended up anyway."

JJ rolled her eyes and started digging through the small first aid kit. Brushing Hotch's hand away, she removed the bloody napkin and started cleaning and bandaging the injury.

"There." She sat back, watching her boss in silence. Hotch noticed that she was chewing slightly on her lower lip. It was the only indication that she was nervous, but certainly easy enough for him to pick up.

"What do we do?"

Hotch glanced out the window at the storm raging on the other side of the glass.

"Wait." He paused and turned back to his coworker. "And trust that the team will realize something is wrong."

"Cell service would be helpful," she muttered.

Again, one side of Hotch's mouth tipped upward.

"That would help too."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: For the question of whether JJ and Will are still together in case anyone else was wondering, yes, they are. As another side note, hopefully I will get more up later today as well.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4 Missing

Chapter Four – Missing

"Hey, Rossi. You know where Hotch is?"

David Rossi pulled his eyes off of the case files he'd been pouring over at Morgan's question. He glanced briefly around the room before shrugging.

"Not here."

Morgan just gaped for a moment before shaking his head.

"You're no help."

Rossi simply smiled. Knowing he'd get nothing more out of Rossi, Morgan turned to the other two members of the team.

"Reid? Prentiss? Either of you seen Hotch?"

Emily shook her head, Reid following suit. Reid was at least able to add a little bit more information though.

"JJ said it may take longer to get back because of the weather," he began, "but that was awhile ago. Even with extra time, it's been too long."

Morgan nodded, trusting Reid completely. Knowing the kid, he'd already calculated the exact amount of time it would take for JJ and Hotch to get back in normal weather and then adjusted it with an equally specific formula to account for the snowstorm. If he asked, Reid could probably even give them all the exact amount of time it should take today down to the minute. Morgan just wasn't going to ask.

"Anyone tried calling?" Morgan questioned again as he pulled out his phone.

At the negative responses from the three other agents, Morgan started dialing his boss' number. With every unanswered ring, the worried pit in his stomach grew. Finally, after six rings, Hotch picked up.

"_Hotchner."_

"Hotch! Where the hell are you?"

The answer Morgan received was staticky and broken. Obviously they didn't have a very good connection.

"_Car… in a… ch."_

"Can't hear you man. It's breaking up."

"_Send… uck."_

"Hotch! I can't understand what –" Morgan glanced down at his phone, the lost signal message on the display. "Dammit!"

"Morgan?"

Morgan glanced toward the questioning sound of Prentiss' voice. The three faces staring back at him were a mix of uncertainty and worry, though each to a different degree. Something was obviously wrong, and Morgan had better spit it out or they were going to strangle him.

"Lost the call. Everything he said was broken. One thing I do know though…" Morgan hit Garcia's number as he continued, "Something isn't right."

"_Hey, hot stuff. What can I offer you today? My list is oh so long, and my prices are reasonable."_

"Oh yeah, Baby Girl? Can't give something to me for free?"

"_Mm, I could think about that."_

"I'm sure you could. This is important though Garcia."

The computer tech sat up straighter in her seat back at Quantico.

"_Tell me what you need sweet cheeks, and it's all yours."_

"Track Hotch's cell. JJ's too."

There was silence on the other line for a good three breaths. When Garcia spoke again her voice was strained. Apparently this was serious. The fun and games were over, and it was time to get down to business.

"_Morgan. What happened to the boss man and my girl?"_

"Don't know yet, Baby Girl. Just a precaution. Now can you tell me where they are?"

"_Not even a challenge. You know that. Coming to you now my sweet. Keep me updated."_

"Damn right I will, Garcia. Thanks."

He disconnected and shared the coordinates with the rest of the team. A quick look at a map proved that JJ and Hotch were still on the road between the Nichols' home and the station.

"So did they pull off because of the weather?" Emily questioned.

Morgan thought back to the phone conversation. It had been broken, but he could piece parts of it together.

"He wanted us to send something. The only part of it I got was uck."

"Uck?" Dave asked, a confused look on his face.

"Luck, truck, duck, puck, stuck, chuck, muck, pluck, cluck, suck, fuck."

Reid's last word caused the rest of the team to eye him uncertainly. The young agent didn't notice though. He just continued on.

"That's all of them. Assuming that the word ending in "uck" is what Hotch wanted us to send, the only one that makes sense is truck. There are over thirty different kinds of trucks though. I'm not sure if that helps us. I could list them all if you'd like."

Rossi was the first to recover from Reid's list of rhyming words.

"Don't bother, Reid. Considering the weather, I'd place my bet on a tow truck."

Prentiss whipped toward him, startled.

"You think they crashed?"

Rossi simply nodded. It was just a theory, but the few pieces they did have fit.

"Morgan, call Garcia back. See if they've moved. Prentiss, try JJ. Reid, try Hotch again. Let's hope we get through."


	5. Chapter 5 Granola Bars

Chapter Five – Granola Bars

"_Please tell me you stayed in the car. You realize your chances are 60.9% higher if you do_."

JJ just smiled. She wouldn't expect anything less from Reid. Hotch wasn't nearly as amused.

"Yes, Reid. We did."

He wasn't sure how much of what he said could be heard through the phone since the connection was still pretty bad. It was still easy enough to determine which member of his team was speaking though. Apparently they were on speaker too since Rossi's voice came on next.

"_Aaron, just stay where you are. We'll try to get to you, but right now we're all confined to the station. The weather is too bad." _

Rossi's comment didn't really surprise either of the trapped agents. Just looking out the window was enough to confirm the story. The snow was still coming down so heavily that they could barely see more than a foot away from them. It was understandable that the city was shut down.

Unfortunately it wasn't good for them. They weren't getting out of here in awhile. Only few hours had passed, but already the air inside the car was freezing. The longer it was before they were rescued, the worse it was going to get.

"We will. You keep working on finding Milton." With that he ended the call.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

"If Reid were here, he would probably be able to calculate exactly how long we can survive in these temperatures."

JJ pulled away from the window and tugged her coat tighter around herself. She was cold, hungry, and tired, but knew voicing any of those thoughts out loud would do them no good. Hotch didn't even look up from the files he was reading at her statement. JJ noticed as much and shook her head. Go figure. They were stranded and freezing in a ditch and he was still working the case.

"I know you're a workaholic Hotch, but I can't believe you're working _now_."

Hotch glanced up at her, completely unperturbed.

"Is it really that strange?"

"Ha! Yes. Look at where we are, Hotch."

"Doesn't mean we should stop working the case."

He turned his attention back to the files spread across his lap. As he did, he caught JJ simply shaking her head at him again out of the corner of his eye.

"I've seen the light in your office still on when I was leaving more than once."

This time it was JJ who caught the teasing half smile directed her way. She gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. Though it was rare, he did have a sense of humor sometimes.

"You want any help?"

Hotch snapped the file closed and set it aside.

"No. I've re-read it enough by now that it's probably memorized. There's nothing more either of us can do."

JJ nodded, completely understanding. He needed something to work on to keep his mind off the situation. Hotch wasn't the type of man to just sit in silence.

A silence that was broken by JJ's rumbling stomach. At Hotch's look, a light blush crept across JJ's face. She immediately glanced down.

"Sorry."

"We were going to run into this eventually. Might as well find out what's here."

JJ winced.

"Not much. I have a few snacks in my bag. Habit of a pregnant woman I guess."

She pulled out two granola bars and three bags of pretzels. Hotch withdrew a bottle of water from his own briefcase. As they both observed the small pile before them, JJ couldn't help but worry. It wasn't going to last them long. Of course, they may not need to worry about it. They could die from hypothermia first.

Tears sprung to her eyes at the thought that she would never see Will or Henry again. It almost paralyzed her. All she could do was sit and stare blankly across the car, fear plastered to her face. They were the most important things in her life.

"JJ. JJ!"

Her head snapped up toward Hotch, completely startled. His voice hadn't reached her at all the first time. She blinked rapidly, forcing herself to pay attention again.

"S-sorry. What is it?"

"If we ration things we'll be fine," he repeated. As long as they could stay warm of course.

"Right. Of course."

Hotch didn't ask where her mind had gone. He could guess easily enough. They had worked together for so long that he could read her like a book.

"Eat, JJ. You need it."

She picked up a granola bar and snapped it in half. As she held one half out to her unit chief, he shook his head.

"I'm fine."

"But –"

"Eat, JJ. Don't make me make it an order."

JJ scowled at him, furious he would try that on her. There wasn't much she could say though. Too hungry to argue, she quickly finished half before rewrapping the remaining piece.

"Just don't think I'm going to let you do that the entire time," she warned.

Hotch just arched an eyebrow at her.

"I'm serious, Hotch. Don't mess with a pregnant woman."

"JJ, I know not to mess with you even when you aren't pregnant."

"Smart man."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Hopefully the time break identifier in there isn't too confusing. I had something so much better, but it was lost in the transfer from word doc to upload. Apparently this site doesn't like those symbols. Let me know if I need to change it to something else.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6 Sleep

Chapter Six – Sleep

"_There's still nothing. No movement on Hotch's phone, my girl's signal disappeared 20 minutes ago, and the car's GPS shows nada. Nada since like 5:53. Meaning it's either not moving or broken. Given the phones I'm leaning toward not moving, but that's a really bad thought, and I don't like it, Morgan."_

The tech's words had started to rush and run together as she became more and more agitated with the situation. Morgan smiled and shook his head.

"Calm down, Momma. It's going to be fine."

"_Don't you tell me it's going to be fine! The boss man and Jayje are out there alone in a blizzard. One that, according to the weather, could last for **days**. Plus, the temperature tomorrow tonight may drop into the negatives, and oh Derek, we have to get them back. We have to!"_

"Easy. Easy, Penelope. We will. I promise."

"_I hate this! I can't do anything at all to help them. They're my friends, Morgan."_

"I know they are. You just keep an eye out on their location so the minute the weather is clear enough we can get them. That, and you keep working on Milton."

"_You want me to…"_ Garcia asked incredulously. How could he possibly ask her to keep working on the case when two members of their team were in trouble?

"It's what Hotch asked, Baby Girl."

"_Alright, I get it. As soon as the amazing genius that is me finds something it'll be on its way to you at the speed of light, sugar. Faster if it's about Jayje and Hotch."_ She paused a minute.

"_I don't know what that would be, but I'm sure I can do it anyway."_

"I'm sure you can, Garcia."

He hung up and turned toward the rest of the team again. Reid was flying through the new material Garcia had sent. Rossi seemed lost in thought, chin resting on his upturned palm as he gazed silently at the crime scene photos posted on their display board.

"Seriously. This sucks," Emily grumbled as she continued pacing across the station. "We can't just keep sitting here doing nothing."

"You're the only one doing nothing," Reid pointed out without even looking up from his reading.

"Thanks, Reid. That makes the situation so much better."

Morgan knew he needed to step in before things got even more out of hand. They were all far too on edge.

"Alright. We're all exhausted. I know the location isn't ideal, but we all need some rest."

"Rest? With Hotch and JJ out there somewhere?" Emily waved vaguely toward the window where the parking lot lights were only a dull spot mostly hidden by the torrent of snow.

"We can't help them right now, Prentiss. Not until emergency vehicles are allowed out. If we went now, we probably would wind up in the same situation they're in."

Emily knew Morgan was right. She really did. That didn't make it any easier to accept though. Besides, she was almost positive that sleep wouldn't come tonight no matter how hard she tried. Worry would keep her wide awake.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

JJ breathed out heavily, her breath misting in the icy air inside the car. She'd resorted to pulling her hood up and tucking her gloved hands deep into her pockets. It was definitely cold, but it wasn't unbearable.

"What time is it?"

She assumed it was late considering how hard it was to prevent the yawns that threatened to break free. The lack of light outside the window wasn't a solid indicator because of the storm, but she couldn't see anything out the window now. It was all black.

Hotch glanced at his watch before pulling the coat sleeve securely over the exposed skin again.

"12:20."

JJ grunted. No wonder she was so tired. She knew that falling asleep in freezing temperatures could be incredibly dangerous, but…

"I'm not sure how much longer I can stay awake, Hotch."

Her boss nodded, completely understanding. He too had been feeling the pull of sleep. It was inevitable really. Neither one of them would be able to hold it off forever. As long as one of them stayed awake though, they would have the best chance.

"Come here," he told her, holding his arm out in invitation.

JJ looked at him questioningly, unsure what he was getting at.

"You'll sleep first. When I can't stay awake, I'll wake you. Staying closer together will keep us both warmer. Body heat."

The thought of curling up against him was incredibly comforting. She shifted over, immediately pressing herself into his side. When he wrapped his arm around her, she shuddered. Whether it was from relief or cold, she wasn't sure. Probably both.

"You're not going to be much help you know. You're just as cold as I am."

She was teasing, hoping to make the situation feel less awkward. While they were in danger, he was still her boss.

"Forgive me for being so cold then."

JJ couldn't help smiling at that. She curled in closer, trying to keep as much of herself pressed against the warmth of his body as possible. Before long Hotch felt her weight settle more heavily against him as her breathing leveled into sleep.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Wow, I seriously wasn't expecting that many people to be following this. I figured there were only 3 since that's all I'd seen on reviews. Little did I know you get emails when someone follows it. I think my jaw nearly dropped when I saw how many were on there. You guys are amazing. Hopefully I won't let you down as this story goes on, and trust me, it's going to go on. It's only chapter 6. I highly doubt anyone could even guess how many chapters there are...<p> 


	7. Chapter 7 Ice

Chapter Seven – Ice

JJ woke stiff and confused the next morning. There was a thin trace of light streaming into the car that actually made the ice that had crystallized on the windows rather pretty. As she shifted to try and work out the kinks in her muscles, she felt Hotch's arm tighten around her.

"How do you feel?"

Pushing herself into a more upright position, JJ rubbed the back of her neck.

"Sore."

Hotch wasn't surprised. It couldn't have been an overly comfortable position to sleep in, especially for a long period of time. When he felt her fingers on his wrist searching for his watch, he immediately pulled his arm away. While he had been exhausted, and still was, his team came first. It always had. Tired or not, he had let JJ get as much rest as she needed.

"Hotch, let me see the time," she grumbled in annoyance. What he had done wasn't unknown to her even without the time. "You should have woken me."

She licked her lips, trying to get any moisture back into her mouth. A moment later their only bottle of water was being held in front of her. She looked up at him in surprise.

"You haven't drunk anything?"

"No."

"Have you at least eaten something?"

"No."

"Hotch!"

Agent Hotchner just opened the bottle and held it out to her again. Snapping it out of his hand in frustration, JJ took a tiny sip before handing it back. He capped it again and set it on the seat beside him.

"I'm going to get some sleep. Wake me up in a few hours." He leaned his head back against the seat, eyes closed. As another thought struck him, his eyes flickered open again and focused on her.

"No more than three. Understood?"

Irritation tickled at JJ again. Why was it that he could look after her to his own detriment, yet he wouldn't let her look after him? Gritting her teeth, she gave him the only answer she knew he'd accept.

"Understood."

As Hotch slept, JJ spent her time focusing on the patterns glued to their windows. It would probably be gorgeous with sunlight gleaming through and making the ice sparkle. Seeing any sunlight would be incredibly welcome right now. Instead, they simply got more snow and a constant hazy gray. JJ shivered again.

She'd given up on trying to stop the shivering. It was simply a given now. Probably a good thing too. As long as she was still able to shiver, she wasn't too far gone. Shoving that thought as far out of her head as possible, JJ started searching for pictures in the dancing ice tendrils along the windows.

Three hours later, JJ knew she should wake Hotch. The thought of trying to speak was sickening though. She wasn't sure how long she'd been fighting off the nausea and heartburn from her child's constant movement. The last thing she needed was the smell of vomit to be added to the others mixing in the car. Just thinking of the smell made her stomach twist, the acidy bile rising in her throat as she struggled to hold it down.

Her attempts were useless. Whirling around to face the trunk, JJ leaned over the backseat and threw up. Body shaking, JJ squeezed her eyes shut, panting. She felt a steady hand on her back as her hood was tugged down and her hair pulled back as she got sick again.

Hotch continued to rub her back as she dry heaved a few times. Finally sure it was over, JJ pulled back, away from the entire contents of her stomach. She dragged her sleeve across her mouth before sitting back down again.

When she saw the concern on Hotch's face, she gave him a tiny smile of reassurance mixed with embarrassment. He smiled wryly in return. He didn't need to ask if she would be alright.

"The baby won't stay still," she explained. That, and worry was taking a toll on the steadiness of her stomach.

After pulling her hood back up again, she curled her arms around herself. There was no reason to feel guilty over what had happened. She hadn't meant to make the situation worse. She couldn't have helped it. Maybe if she had a little more faith though, a little more strength, she wouldn't have worried herself to the point of sickness.

Seeing the bead of guilt grow behind JJ's eyes, Hotch immediately moved to distract her. JJ was a smart woman, but she wasn't perfect. He knew well how much of a burden she put on herself, how much weight and blame she could pile on her own shoulders. She didn't deserve any of it. While he doubted she would let guilt take over right now, it didn't mean he couldn't help her.

"Jack would probably love to sit here and find pictures in the ice on the windows."

JJ couldn't help laughing outright. Profilers!

"How did you know that's what I've been doing all morning?"

"I'll leave you to figure that out on your own," he told her, easily hiding the fact that her response had surprised him. Apparently his distraction had worked out better than he'd been planning.

She watched him in silence, his impassive face giving away as little as it usually did. After taking a few more minutes to come up with an answer that could work, she finally spoke up.

"It's about all there is to do."

"Is it?"

JJ's mouth opened slightly in surprise.

"You didn't know did you?" she demanded.

"Not until you told me."

"Argh! Hotch!"

He simply grinned, the first true smile since the entire mess had started, and pulled her close against him.


	8. Chapter 8 Battle of Wills, Round Two

Chapter Eight – Battle of Wills, Round Two

"Eat!"

The one word cracked through the air like a whip. Hotch wasn't overly surprised with the force behind JJ's demand. They'd been arguing for a good ten minutes now, neither one willing to back down. The more Hotch resisted, the more fire flared up in JJ's eyes.

She could not, would not, let him sacrifice himself for her. They weren't desperate enough yet to be arguing this much over food. Two bags of pretzels and a granola bar remained. Even their water was in relatively good shape. They had yet to reach the halfway mark.

Hotch had insisted she drink something before their argument started. She'd simply thrown a demand back at him. If he drank something, she would as well. Her request and Hotch's refusal had started the ball rolling on their growing fight.

"I'm not hungry. You are," he told her calmly.

"I don't need to be a profiler to know you're lying. You haven't had anything for over 24 hours!"

"I had lunch."

"Twenty four hours ago, Hotch! Twenty four hours!"

That was before they'd even gotten into this mess. Really, she wanted to strangle him. He never listened. If only the man wasn't so damn stubborn. And protective. He was always incredibly protective.

"You're eating for two," he pointed out, his calm, controlled voice a counterpoint to the snapping quality in hers.

"And I say you need to eat which means it's two against one!"

She shoved the remaining granola bar into his hands, still glaring daggers at him. JJ had, had enough of his stupidity. This time she wasn't going to let him pass food and water over to her without taking some for himself. He was going to eat even if she had to shove it down his throat herself.

Hotch took the bar to calm her. Her hitching breath was visible even with the heavy winter clothes hiding the quick rise and fall of her chest. While getting so worked up might keep JJ warmer, Hotch didn't want it to go on too long.

"Half," he insisted.

JJ breathed out a sigh of relief and almost dropped her head onto her boss' broad shoulder. Finally! Now if he could just follow through without a fight it would be all good.

He snapped off half of the partially frozen granola bar and popped it into his mouth. A quick glance at JJ showed him she approved.

"There's some color back in your face again," he pointed out.

She froze, her eyes narrowing. Had he started this whole argument for that reason? Was that it? Had he just wanted to piss her off to get her warmer?

Hotch noticed the shift and immediately braced himself for the second round of fury he knew was coming. It hadn't been his goal to upset her again, but apparently she'd taken what he said the wrong way. He should have seen this coming.

"I didn't mean anything by it, JJ."

"You planned this whole thing didn't you?"

It wasn't really a rational thought, but JJ didn't care. She was furious with him, and her emotions were getting the best of her.

"What?"

"This whole fight!" She roared. "You planned all of this just to get me worked up enough to feel warmer!"

"No, JJ. I argued so I could keep you and your child safe."

"That's the same thing!"

JJ launched herself at him, her fists pounding against his chest. She had no idea what she was doing or why this bothered her so much. Usually she was so in control. Flying off the handle this way wasn't normal.

Hotch tried to grab her wrists, needing to calm her. While the argument hadn't been out of character for their communications liaison, the sudden bout of violence was. Before he could do much more of anything, JJ collapsed against him, sobbing. Thin shoulders shaking, JJ clung to her boss. She felt so completely out of control. For his part, Agent Hotchner simply held her.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she sniffed, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

Hotch gently brushed them away so they wouldn't freeze on her skin. Their predicament was obviously getting to his coworker, but he would make sure he did everything he could to make it easier for her.

"It's fine, JJ. It's fine."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: This is by far my favorite chapter, except maybe the last one. I just had too much fun writing it. Maybe that's because it flowed so easily. Maybe it's just because I could picture the two of them being so pissed off at each other while confined to an itty bitty space that could hardly contain either of their stubbornness. Or maybe it was seeing Hotch actually lose for once. Either way, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9 Family

Chapter Nine – Family

"Give me some good news, baby girl," Morgan called out so their technical analyst could hear them through the speaker phone.

"_I'm not going to kill you even though you haven't saved them yet."_

"Not really what I was hoping for, Garcia."

"_Too bad. I'm really struggling to see the good in this. They've been stuck for twenty two hours, the weather isn't looking like it's going to clear up any time soon, and I'm all out of Twinkies."_

"Twinkies?"

"_They keep me distracted."_

"I'll keep that in mind. You got anything new on Milton?"

"_Love, if I did, you'd have it. Garcia over and out."_

"Well, she still sounds like her usual self," Rossi pointed out.

Morgan simply nodded and moved on. They were working two different things right now, and everyone was distracted. He needed to keep them on task as much as possible. One thing at a time.

"Milton. What have we got?"

"A list of six possible places we can check once the storm clears," Reid explained.

"Two of them look really good," Emily added from where she sat on the edge of a table, arms crossed over her chest.

"Any news from Hotch and JJ?" Morgan asked, switching the subject once they'd covered everything important on the case.

"Storm is too bad. I tried Hotch and couldn't get through," Dave grumbled. He didn't like knowing their friends were out there without help any more than the others did.

"Morgan, should we call Will and let him know what's going on?"

Emily knew full well that the knowledge of the accident would be too much on Jack and Henry. While the boys were older now, they still didn't need the burden of knowing their parents were trapped in a snowstorm. JJ's husband had the right to know though.

Morgan sighed and rubbed the back of his head. They probably should, but it wasn't something he wanted to do. Notifications to families were never easy. When it was the family of a team member though, it was even harder. With Hotch gone, that awful job fell to Morgan.

"I'll take care of it."

They all fell silent for a moment, none of them envying Morgan. Nobody wanted to be the bringer of bad news, and they all had enough to worry about without adding Will's fear to it. There was simply no way to prevent thoughts of JJ and Hotch from taking the forefront in their minds.

"Someone better call Jessica too," Rossi pointed out, referring to Hotch's sister in law. She always took care of Jack when his father was away on a case. Hopefully she would be able to keep her emotions and expressions under wraps so Jack wouldn't find out too. "I'll handle that one."

Morgan gave Rossi a quick nod of thanks, feeling rather relieved that he didn't need to do two.

Turning toward Reid, Rossi spoke up again, "Reid, Jessica's number?"

Rossi had little doubt that Reid would have the information. At one point in time the kid had to have read all of their emergency contacts. The team's phone book, encyclopedia, dictionary, and atlas sifted quickly through his mind for the information before rattling off the number. Nodding, Rossi got it quickly written down for later.

"You know, there's a major temperature drop expected tonight," Reid worried aloud. He knew more than any of the others what the exact temperature was that would spell disaster for two of his friends.

Emily noticed Reid's unease and squeezed his shoulder in solid reassurance even though she was just as worried as he was.

"They'll make it, Reid. JJ's more stubborn than you think, and we all know how bad Hotch is."

"Prentiss' right, kid," Morgan added, hoping Reid would take their words to heart. Positive thinking was about all they had right then.

Reid nodded, accepting their assurances without another word. Even bolstered by the rest of the team's confidence, he knew that JJ and Hotch were going to have a rough night.


	10. Chapter 10 Not So Fun and Games

Chapter Ten – Not So Fun and Games

Step, step, step, awkward turn.

Step, step, step, another ungraceful turn.

And repeat.

"What are you doing?" JJ asked from her spot sprawled across the back seat. She'd been watching Hotch pace back and forth for the past fifteen minutes. Or at least pace the best he could while standing hunched over. He had moved the front seats up as much as possible to give himself more room, but even then space was limited and the roof was too low to allow him to fully stand up.

"Walking," he answered gruffly as he made another circuit from one door to the other and back again.

Hotch was capable of patience. He was. What he wasn't capable of was sitting still for so long. They had recently passed the 24 hour mark of their imprisonment inside the car. At least that's what it was starting to feel like, imprisonment.

Pacing across the tiny back seat was a way to channel some of his frustration into something useful. The movement had worked the stiffness out of his legs soon enough, though he was bound to have a stiff neck and shoulders when he was through.

"I've never seen you look so much like a caged animal before, Hotch."

In all honesty, Hotch had to admit to himself that he felt like one. Even the people they put behind bars had more room to move than he did right now. Apparently stir-crazy wasn't just a phrase. It was quickly becoming reality.

JJ had gone with a different method of working the stiffness out of her legs. Feet up on the seat, she'd been vigorously rubbing her calves and thighs since Hotch started wearing a path into the SUV's tan carpet. It was working alright, and she was feeling a bit warmer from the movement, but she did envy Hotch a bit. She certainly wouldn't mind being able to get up and stretch fully.

If the restrained, yet completely on edge look hadn't been so clear in her boss' eyes, she might have asked for a turn on her feet. As it was, she wouldn't risk it. Hotch obviously needed this to keep himself in control. The excess energy that had been building and building inside of him had finally found a way out. JJ couldn't take that from him.

Instead, she flopped onto her back on the seats and stretched her arms over her head. Her coat tightened across her stomach, not entirely comfortably, as it tried to rise up on her. At the moment though, she didn't care. It felt too good to stretch.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

While JJ's job didn't offer a lot of time for family travel, there had been a few times in her life when her extensive arsenal of travel games came in incredibly handy. This was one of those times. The cold was getting to both of them, but as long as they kept busy they could each convince themselves that it wasn't so bad.

"Papaya."

JJ smirked, waiting to see if Hotch could come up with any other fruits that started with P. They had already been through all of the obvious ones: pear, plum, peach, pineapple, prune, even purple grapes which she had insisted Henry had used before.

"Pomegranate."

JJ floundered for a moment, struggling to come up with another word so quickly. Hotch didn't seem to be even remotely worried.

"Passionfruit."

"Persimmon."

Dang it. Come on! No matter how much JJ wracked her brain, she was out of ideas.

"Does phone a friend count? I'm sure Spence could come up with another one."

Amusement flickered in Hotch's eyes. He knew he'd won. JJ surrendered, throwing up her arms in defeat.

"How are you so good at this? Some big profiler trick I haven't learned yet?"

Hotch shrugged like it wasn't a big deal at all.

"It's Jack's favorite game. We play it almost every time we're in the car together."

Well, that explained it then.

"And of course you always use all of the hard ones to leave Jack the easier ones." At Hotch's nod, JJ shook her head in mild amusement.

"And you just couldn't have done that for me, could you?"

"No. You're better than that."

He held a bag of pretzels he'd just opened out to her. At her slightly raised eyebrow, he took two for himself and started on one. Satisfied he was at least eating something, JJ fished into the bag for her own dinner.

A tiny handful of pretzels and a few sips of water. What she would give right then for a steak and baked potato.

Or maybe a fajita.

Definitely a fajita.

Or two.


	11. Chapter 11 Rock and Roll

Chapter Eleven – Rock and Roll

Hotch would have given just about anything to be able to wrap JJ into his coat. She was sleeping fitfully, her teeth audibly chattering. He held her tighter, hoping it would be enough.

He'd never been so cold in his life. Though the time with Foyet came close, it was a different kind of chill. A chill to soak his soul. A brief pain flared in his chest at the thought of that day. Of Haley giving her life to protect their son. He prayed that she was watching over him now, making sure that Jack's only remaining parent would make it back to him.

The SUV rocked unsteadily as the wind blasted past. It had picked up soon after JJ had fallen asleep, and had grown to an all out howl recently. This wasn't the first time the wind had moved the SUV as it whipped past either. Hotch was incredibly grateful that JJ wasn't aware of what was happening.

After feeling the SUV lurch beneath him again, he had to admit that even he was a bit unsettled. Hotch closed his eyes and took a steadying breath to calm his nerves.

"H-Hotch?"

JJ looked up at him, her face white and her eyes tired. Hotch couldn't help but notice the slightly blue tinge to her lips.

"You can s-sleep if you n-need t-to."

"Probably best if we both stay awake."

He was shivering just as much as she was, but she seemed far worse when he considered the color of her face and chattering teeth. Hotch made a quick decision and released her.

"Hop up for a minute."

JJ did as she was told, moving slowly off his lap. Once he was free to move, Hotch unzipped his coat and started pulling it off. JJ's exhausted brain struggled to understand what he was doing at first. When it finally sunk in, she snatched his arm to stop him.

"What are you doing?" she asked darkly.

"I'm not giving you my coat, if that's what you're thinking."

"Oh." She released him, feeling embarrassed that she'd jumped to the wrong conclusion no matter how justified it was.

Free of her restraining grip, Hotch tugged his winter coat off, the suit coat he wore underneath following right after. Not wanting to freeze, he hurriedly put the winter coat back on and zipped it up.

"Put this on," he told her as he held his suit coat out.

When she opened her mouth to protest, Hotch narrowed his eyes in warning, silencing her before she even started. He'd mastered the glare as a prosecutor, and it still came in handy. JJ managed to pull off her own winter coat, though reluctantly. Hotch had to help her pull the suit coat on followed by her winter coat again.

She was about to thank him when the wind caught the car again. JJ's eyes went wide as she locked a hand on the back of the seat in front of her and the one she was sitting on. Hotch braced his feet, waiting for the rocking to stop.

"I r-really hope it d-doesn't do that a-again."

Hotch took her arm and gently guided her back down to the seat again. He waited until she was tucked safely under his arm before speaking.

"It will. This wasn't the first time."

"Great…"

JJ rested her head against his shoulder, debating whether to voice her fears. She didn't want Hotch thinking she wasn't strong enough. All agents were trained for situations a lot worse than this. Even she had been attacked in the field before. This was different though, and she was scared.

"I'm not s-sure how much l-longer I can do this."

She was just so cold and so tried. Drifting off into the darkness of sleep sounded incredibly appealing. The longer they were trapped here, the more the ice seemed to creep into her bones. How long would she have before moving and focusing became too difficult to accomplish?

"You can do this as long as you need to. They're coming. We hold on until then."

Hotch made it sound so easy, like the answer was so obvious. She knew Hotch was only human. The cold had to be getting to him too even though he was barely showing it aside from the shivering. JJ wasn't as strong as he was, but she wasn't done yet. She'd fight.

"What's Jack been up to, Hotch?"

If they could keep talking like this, maybe it would become easier. She would forget about the cold and the dread creeping up on her every second and be able to focus on the good things, the memories she never wanted to lose. Memories that warmed her heart. That was a warmth that she needed more than anything right then.


	12. Chapter 12 Ready

Chapter Twelve – Ready

"_I have good news, my sweets,"_ Garcia crowed through the speaker of Morgan's phone the next morning. It had been over 36 hours since Hotch and JJ's accident.

"Garcia, I love you."

"_Aw, Em, I love you too. Which is why I am over the top ecstatic to finally have something for you all. According to my lovely life partners here, the snow has almost stopped coming down where the boss and Jayje are."_

"Aw come on, Baby Girl. I don't rank higher than your computers?" Morgan questioned in the sickly sweet voice that was reserved just for her.

"_Hnm, nothing could ever replace you handsome. As much as I love hearing your voice, zip it. I have more news."_

"Ooo, ouch."

"_You know I love you. Anyway! The rest of the news, I'm sad to report, isn't all flowers and butterflies. While the snow has slowed, the wind has only gotten worse_."

"Meaning it's whipping up the snow already on the ground so we can't tell the difference anyway," Reid concluded. "It's still a white out."

"_Two points for wonder boy!"_

"Good news or not," Rossi interrupted, "we still can't get out there."

"_That would be the bad part,"_ Garcia confirmed.

"Well, it's a start, Baby Girl. Thanks."

As Morgan hung up, Emily glanced around at the others and worriedly ran her hand through her hair. She was unsure if she should voice her thoughts, but found that she needed to.

"The wind better die down. Hotch and JJ probably don't have a lot of time left."

It wasn't a good thought, but they all had to be thinking pretty much the same thing. They were running out of time.

"Then we give them the best chance that we can," Rossi stated firmly as he headed from the room.

Morgan was stunned at Rossi's sudden departure.

"Where the hell are you going, Rossi?"

"To make sure that the second the wind dies enough to see, we're ready to go."

Emily couldn't stop herself from nervously biting her fingernails as Rossi walked away. Knowing he wasn't going to let anyone waste time was reassuring. Time was the problem. She wanted to know how much they would need to endure even if it did make everything harder to bear.

"How high is the wind speed now?" she asked, eyes shifting from Morgan to Reid.

"Give me a minute," Morgan answered as he moved to the computer and set about pulling up the weather service website.

"According to this, almost 65 miles per hour."

Emily winced. That wasn't good at all. Based on their expressions, Reid and Morgan seemed to agree with her opinion.

"And at what speed can emergency vehicles get out?"

Morgan shrugged and glanced at Reid in an unspoken appeal to cover that question.

"It depends on the situation, but usually not higher than 40. Considering how much snow there is to whip up though, I'd say significantly slower in our case."

It was a really big difference. That difference made it seem like there was a lot more standing between Hotch and JJ and rescue than just wind.

"Reid, if you had to guess, how long would you say it would take for 65 mile per hour winds to drop to 40 miles per hour?" Emily questioned worriedly.

"Uh… weather is really hard to predict. Conditions are constantly changing. Plus, just the right circumstances can collect in the same place and change everything in an instant. Wind is based mostly on changes in air pressure. The wider the difference in pressure, the more powerful the wind. I can't tell you how fast the difference in those varying air pressure systems will alter. It's impossible."

Reid cut off early, knowing it wasn't the time to go into a more detailed explanation of the causes for wind. When he noticed Emily's disappointment over the initial answer, he hung his head slightly.

"I'm really sorry, Emily. I know that's not what you wanted to hear."

"It's alright, Reid. Not your fault," Emily told him with her best effort at a smile. "We'll just hope it's soon."

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

"You have my word that the moment we can, we'll be on our way to them," the police chief assured Agent Rossi. "Two ambulances will meet us there."

While the news that the rescue operation was set to go the second they could was good, and slightly reassuring, Dave wanted to know without a doubt that they would be ready. Not willing to leave that up to chance, Rossi had prepared two blankets from the station just in case. They were folded neatly beside the door, ready for him to grab on his way out. When they reached their stranded teammates, JJ and Hotch would need the blankets. He would have liked to have a mug of hot chocolate ready to go as well, but that wasn't something that could sit around for awhile. If they had pre-warning, it would still be possible to get it ready before they left. If there wasn't time, JJ and Hotch came first.

Just as Aaron protected the rest of the team, Dave protected Aaron. He trusted their current chief to handle things, but he'd be a lot more confident if Hotch were alone. He had nothing against JJ. She was an amazing woman and contributed more to the team than he could even imagine. She might even be able to help their boss. The problem was that Hotch would protect her even at a risk to himself.

"Hang in there, Aaron. We're coming," Rossi whispered to himself.


	13. Chapter 13 Gone

Chapter Thirteen – Gone

Neither Hotch nor JJ had gotten any real sleep that night. They had both been too cold and too afraid to fall into the darkness of a sleep they may not wake from. The long, excruciatingly cold night had been spent in relative silence. Only the sounds of the howling wind, the car creaking, and JJ's chattering teeth filled the frozen air.

The two trapped agents had given up speaking pretty early in the morning. Instead they resorted to squeezing each other's hand from time to time. A squeeze back being the simple reassurance either needed that the other was still awake. Still alive.

Hotch wasn't completely awake though, and he knew JJ wasn't either. He'd been hovering in a half awake state for awhile, simply staring ahead without really seeing anything. Allowing his mind to go blank gave him some semblance of rest at least. It didn't come anywhere near a good eight hours in a warm bed though. For now he'd take what he could and get a little more rest.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Five more minutes. Just five more minutes. He reached out absently to hit the snooze button, something he rarely, if ever, did. When his hand fell on thin air, it took him a second or two to peel his eyes fully open and kick his brain into gear. He struggled, the gears in his mind grinding and not wanting to turn while the beeping continued.

It wasn't his alarm clock.

Beep.

What was it?

Beep.

Ah. His phone. It was the sound the phone made when it was almost out of batteries.

Hotch checked the back seat, wondering where the phone had gotten to. There was time left for one more call, but he would have to move fast. Spotting it on the floor in the corner, he reached for it. When JJ, still curled against him, hissed in pain, Hotch drew up short. It wasn't worth it. Not if the movement needed to reach the phone hurt her.

Settling back against the seat, Hotch simply listened to the phone's last moments.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Silence.

Now they had no way of contacting the outside world. No way to gain strength from the voice of a friend on the other end of the line who was waiting for them to return. No way of knowing when the team was coming for them.

It was a scary thought. One that Hotch couldn't deny he was affected by.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

Back in her tiny room of computer screens, bright colors, and chirping wind-up toys at Quantico, Penelope Garcia watched as the dot that represented her two missing teammates suddenly disappeared. The awful rectangular message that signaled doom to so many cases flashed onto the screen. Signal Lost.

"Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God."

She immediately dialed Morgan's number. When he answered she had no teasing wit or highly delicious compliment. She just got right to it.

"They're gone."

"_What?"_ Morgan howled back. He seemed to pull himself back together after a moment, put her on speak, and asked, _"What do you mean, Garcia?"_

"The phone signal is gone. Just gone."

Before she could escalate into too much of a panic, Emily's voice reached her over the phone. What she heard soothed her instantly.

"_We knew it was going to happen at some point, Garcia. Doesn't mean that they're gone. They're still right there, and we're still going to find them."_

"You missed a word."

"_What?"_

"You missed a word. Alive. We're still going to find them alive."

It was an important detail she would not let Emily leave out.

She could almost hear Emily smile over the phone when she answered.

"_Yeah. Alive."_

As Garcia ended the call, she was feeling slightly better, but no where near calm. She wouldn't feel like herself again until her entire family was back here. Safe. Where they belonged.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: As you can probably guess, things are starting to get a lot more difficult for our lovely duo here. Hopefully I haven't lost any of you amazing people who have been following this since the beginning along the way. It's just been quiet lately. Not sure what that means. I could just be checking more often and making it feel that way... Actually, I'm sure that's exactly what it is. Probably.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14 Time

Chapter Fourteen – Time

"Where are we?"

Hotch turned his head to look down at JJ. Her eyes seemed almost glazed, like she wasn't really there. The growing worry over her condition doubled. Forgetting where they were and what had happened wasn't a good sign.

"In our SUV on the side of the road," he soothed.

Her eyes met his, a flicker of irritation and exasperation becoming dominant in them. His worry stilled a bit. That spark was the JJ he knew, something he saw in her blue eyes when she was dealing with someone particularly dense or just someone being stupid.

"Not what I meant, Hotch."

"Oh."

The worry decreased a tiny bit more, though it was still burning strong. It would be until they were out of this mess and he heard the doctors say she was alright. Whether she thought that was stupid or not, he didn't care.

"I meant, where are we on the road. As in, how far away are we from the station."

Hotch struggled to think back to two days ago. Had they really only been here that long? Was this really just the third day? It felt like so much longer.

"Twenty miles. Maybe less."

Or maybe more. It could have been thirty. He wasn't completely sure.

JJ nodded, accepting his answer without a word. She didn't share why she had asked. Instead she just drifted back into her own thoughts again, cheek resting on his shoulder.

Hotch didn't need her to explain. There were only so many reasons she could have wanted to know the answer to that question. Knowing how far away they were from the station and the rest of the team could give her an idea of how long it would take the team to get here. Twenty miles didn't seem like a lot, but Hotch knew the weather would make the distance more difficult to cover. It would take more time.

Time he desperately hoped they had.

JJ couldn't last forever. And as much as he did to make himself appear virtually indestructible and unbeatable in front of his team, he knew that he couldn't last forever either.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

An hour. Max.

That's the amount of time she'd decided it would take for the others to drive from the station to where she and Hotch were. An hour. She could wait that long.

JJ desperately ignored the obvious flaw in that line of thinking. That flaw was why she'd purposefully prevented herself from looking out the window. If she did, there would be no denying the fact that the team couldn't possibly be there in an hour. They couldn't have even left yet. How could they when the wind was making visibility so poor that she could see only the trees a few feet away from her window as dark splotches?

They weren't coming. Not yet. But they would.

All she had to keep thinking was one more hour. One more.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: This chapter is really short, I know. I considered adding more to it, but nothing really felt right, so I just left it alone. Luckily for you all though the next chapter is longer than usual. And, seriously, I was not expecting everyone to suddenly flood me with reviews just because I mentioned it was quiet (which really it wasn't, the site was just being dumb and not letting me see them). Glad you're all enjoying it! Never fear though, regardless of whether I know someone is reading or not I shall still continue my update schedule.<p> 


	15. Chapter 15 One More

Chapter Fifteen – One More

How many times had she said it to herself? One more. How many times?

She wasn't really sure, but it was getting to be too many. Hotch had stopped telling her when an hour had passed after the third time. He'd figured out what she was doing and cut her off. While having a goal to reach was good, Hotch worried about what would happen if JJ continued restarting that goal each hour without end.

"What time is it?" Her voice was weak and husky.

Their water bottle had only a few sips of water left that both of the agents had been saving until they were desperate. In reality, they both were desperate, but neither was willing to drink it. Hotch had considered slipping outside for some snow, but had almost immediately vetoed the idea. Not only would opening the door make the air inside the car colder, which they didn't need, he also knew from basic survival that drinking snow when you were cold wasn't a good idea. Unless it could be turned back into water first, you would only become colder, this time from the inside out. Neither he nor JJ could handle that.

One bag of pretzels also remained, but the sickening mix of smells in the car from just about anything that could come out of a human body had killed their appetites a long time ago. Besides, eating the pretzels would only make them thirstier.

"I don't know," Hotch answered.

"Then look at your watch," she added, her voice taking on a monotone quality.

"It's not working."

"Liar. It is."

"I know." He hadn't even tried to be convincing. Perhaps he should have, but she wouldn't have believed him anyway.

"So tell me."

"No."

"Tell me."

"Drink some water, JJ."

A topic change, but not a very good one.

"You drink it. I've already had more than you."

Which was true. She'd had almost double what he had. The same could probably go for the food.

"You need it more than me."

JJ flinched and hoped Hotch had written the movement off as a shiver. He probably had. Neither of them had stopped shivering for a second. The fact that Hotch might have taken the flinch as something else didn't hide the truth from her though. She needed it more than him. She was the weaker link. She was the one that needed to be protected. JJ hated it.

Hotch saw the twist in JJ's lips, signally her disgust. Probably with herself. Not that she had any reason to feel that way. He gently touched her arm, forcing her to look at him.

"It's not that I don't need it too, JJ. I do. It's that your child needs it. Think about your baby."

It was manipulative, and he knew it. Yet it had to be done. JJ wouldn't give in otherwise.

He saw the resistance leave her eyes, and she nodded. Satisfied with his victory, Hotch reached down for the bottle. He fumbled with it, seemingly unable to get his hand to do precisely what he wanted it to. Feeling clumsy and mildly embarrassed, Hotch finally got the cap off and handed the bottle over to her.

JJ purposefully ignored her boss' uncharacteristic clumsiness. Instead, she gazed at the tiny pool of water covering the bottom of the bottle.

"It's a girl you know," she mused as she swished the water slightly. There was no reason to. With how much her hand was shaking the water would never be still.

"Congratulations."

JJ simply nodded and raised the bottle to her lips, tipping it back and drinking the remaining drops. It wasn't even enough to make a dent in her thirst.

"Have you and Will chosen a name yet?"

"No. Not yet."

"What's Henry think?"

"About having a sister?" She asked, and then continued when she saw him nod. "He's excited about it. Especially since he's started to feel her kick his hand."

She stumbled a bit on the last word, her voice cracking. Without consciously thinking about it, she curled her arms around her stomach. Hotch was pretty sure she was rocking silently back and forth as well. It was a soothing motion. One he'd seen those who were broken inside use to cope.

"JJ?" he asked her as he rested his hand lightly on her shoulder. He wouldn't push her to talk, but he wanted her to know he was here if she needed him.

"I… I haven't felt her move much. Not for a long time."

She met his eyes, hers brimming with tears she wasn't willing to let herself shed.

"Before…" She had to stop and hold back a choked sob before continuing. "Before I felt her kick all the time. Even yesterday morning she was wiggling around so much I almost couldn't stand it. But now… now…"

She couldn't finish that thought.

Hotch could sympathize with her, yet he couldn't really imagine exactly what she was going through. He'd almost lost Jack once before, and that had been nearly unbearable. JJ had to be feeling the same way, only worse.

"All you can do right now is stay strong. You can't assume she's gone."

JJ clung to his hands, distraught.

"I need to know, Hotch. Please. I need to know if her heart is still beating. If she's still alive. Please."

She knew what she was asking of him wasn't easy, but she was desperate.

"JJ," he sighed.

"Please," she pleaded again.

"It will be cold," he warned.

"I know. I know, but I have to find out."

Knowing he couldn't convince her out of this, Hotch gave in. JJ saw it in his eyes the moment he had.

"Thank you! Thank you."

She immediately unzipped her coat and lay down, waiting.

Hotch maneuvered himself into a crouching position on the floor. The first time Hotch had listened to an unborn child's heartbeat had been when Haley was pregnant with Jack. Then it had been the most amazing thing he'd ever experienced. Now, as he prepared to do it again, it made him tense and uneasy. He slid her shirt up and pressed his ear to her stomach while doing his best to cover her bare skin with his free arm.

JJ clung tightly to the other, waiting in fear for him to tell her what he heard. After what felt like forever, but was probably only moments, Hotch pulled her shirt and his suit coat back down over her stomach. As he glanced up at her, he smiled slightly.

"It's there, JJ. It's there."

Relief washed over her, and she laughed slightly. This time she didn't even try to stop the tears that were spilling onto her cheeks.


	16. Chapter 16 Sources of Strength

Chapter Sixteen – Sources of Strength

After the incredible news that Hotch could hear her daughter's heart beating, JJ had felt a new warmth and strength within her. She had hope. As the hours continued to pass with no change in the weather except for the air feeling colder, if that was even possible, JJ's newfound strength had started to flag.

It was becoming harder and harder to stay awake. Harder to function at all.

She wasn't giving up. Surrender wasn't in her.

She was just going to take a little nap. That was all. Just a little nap.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

JJ hadn't said a word in over an hour. Not since she'd gushed an endless line of thank yous. Those two words were followed shortly after by a request to help her sit up. Not before she'd tried on her own though and failed miserably and rather comically. Hotch had been careful to hide his smile during all of JJ's flailing. He wasn't sure how sensitive she was over her condition, so he wouldn't draw attention to it or the fact that she had asked for help. She rarely did that, preferring to handle everything on her own. Much like him really.

They had both fallen right back into the pattern that was well established by that point. Silence wasn't unusual. Talking came in spurts. After maybe half an hour of discussing one thing or another, they'd fall into the deep silence of their own private thoughts until the desire to break out clawed at one of them again.

It was why Hotch wasn't concerned that JJ hadn't spoken. He simply assumed that she was immersed in her own head.

Like he was.

The long silences had provided him the peace and time to think that he rarely got. Whenever he had the chance, his thoughts almost magnetically locked onto Jack. This time was no different.

_Aaron Hotchner had absolutely no idea why his son's teacher would be so determined to call him in for a meeting. As far as he knew, his seven year old (seven and a half, Jack would have insisted) wasn't having any problems at school. The moment he'd sat down, Jack's teacher explained that she wanted to show him something she thought he should see._

_She explained that they had been discussing how the kids could help other people. It was a connection to a story they had read together. Each student's job was to write about someone in their life who had needed help and what the student did to help that person. _

_The teacher had followed this by saying that usually she just sent the stories home with the child since the parents would check out all of their child's completed and returned work._

_This case was special though. _

_The first few lines of Jack's story had told her all she needed to know. If she didn't step in, Aaron would never see his son's heartfelt writing._

_As Hotch read it over, Jack's teacher just smiling lightly in front of him, he couldn't help feeling a growing warmth and pride in his son swell up inside of him. When he had returned home, Jack's writing had been put into protective sleeves and even now resided in Hotch's bottom desk drawer. _

Hotch smiled at the memory. He'd re-read the story more than once since that day. Any time he needed a little comfort, a little escape from the case at hand, he would pull it out and read Jack's words again. They always made him feel better. Like the world wasn't quite as dark. A reminder that no matter what it may feel like, he wasn't alone. There was light out there.

Those words came back to him easily now.

_Shhh, don't tell daddy. He won't like it. He doesn't like help._

_Someone in my life I help is my dad. Dad is a good guy. He puts bad people in jail. Dad is really strong, and he never cries ever. He always takes care of me. No matter what. _

_But sometimes dad needs help too. He never says so ever. But I know he does because I'm smart. That's why I know just what to do to make daddy feel better. _

_I just give him a big hug and tell him I love him and kiss him on the cheek and sometimes even ask him to play with me or read me a story. But that's only if he seems really, really sad. _

_Then daddy smiles and hugs me back and kisses my head and tells me that he loves me too. I know he feels better then. Because daddy needs me and loves me. And I love him too._

Hotch found a smile drifting across his face. The story had filled multiple pages, all of it in Jack's huge handwriting and littered with his son's attempts at spelling. It was one of the most precious things Hotch owned.

Thinking of those words once again had reminded Hotch of his son's amazing ability to make him smile. That alone was enough to keep him going.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: This chapter and from here on is where the story picks up again and the fun begins. At least in my opinion.<p> 


	17. Chapter 17 Whipping Wind

Chapter Seventeen – Whipping Wind

"What the hell do you mean, we still can't go?"

Morgan's roar was enough to bring Rossi immediately to the younger agent's side. The look of utter rage adorning Morgan's face confirmed Dave's thoughts. If he didn't diffuse this situation, Morgan would strangle the police chief. Or beat him to a pulp.

"Morgan." One word spoken softly but firmly. It was all the warning Rossi needed to give.

Morgan got the message, gritted his teeth, and forced the next words out in a slightly more controlled voice.

"We can at least try."

He completely did not understand why the chief was still blocking his attempt to save their friends. Garcia had informed him earlier that the wind speed had dropped dramatically. While it was still gusting at a solid 35 to 45 miles per hour, they were finally able to see outside again.

"It's still too strong," the chief insisted. "We need to wait a bit longer."

"We're running out of daylight, man!"

The police chief scrubbed at his face in frustration. The agent was right. The sun set a lot earlier in the winter. If they put this off much longer, they could very well be searching in the dark. Trying to convince the agents to wait until morning at that point would be as hard as keeping a starving lion from a pound of fresh steak.

"Give it half an hour," he bargained. "I'll confirm the ambulances' departure time, and you can all get ready in that half hour. We'll leave at 2:30 whether the wind has slowed or not. Deal?"

It would be breaking protocol to go with the wind still so strong, but it was the best option he had.

Morgan was about to growl that, that wasn't good enough when Rossi cut him off.

"Deal," Rossi agreed.

The glare Morgan sent him could have curdled milk still inside of the cow. Rossi could deal with it though. He had experience. Let Morgan focus his anger on him. Rossi knew he had made the right choice.

When the police chief headed back to his office, Morgan turned on Rossi with a vengeance. He respected the other agent to no end, but he was too furious to just go along with Rossi's demand to wait while Hotch and JJ were freezing outside without an explanation.

"What the hell, man?"

"Morgan, we need the time to plan out who's going where. Hotch and JJ are the priority, but we still have Milton to deal with."

Morgan hated every word that Rossi said, especially the but, yet he knew the man was right. The team couldn't forget about Milton. They needed to decide how to tackle both situations in the next half hour.

He had no doubt they would figure it out. He just hoped it didn't cost Hotch and JJ too much.

Turning away from Rossi, Morgan strode into the main room of the station full of purpose. Prentiss and Reid were already watching him. They too had heard his shouting earlier.

"In half an hour we'll be on our way to Hotch and JJ. Between now and then we need to figure out who's going to them and what the game plan is for getting Milton. That has to start at 2:30 too," he explained.

Emily and Reid nodded their understanding. Neither of them liked it any more than Morgan, but they knew that this is what Hotch would have wanted. He would have wanted Milton in custody.

And they would make sure that it happened.


	18. Chapter 18 Four Letters

Chapter Eighteen – Four Letters

Hotch glanced at his watch. 2:43. Three more hours and they would reach a full 48 hours trapped here.

By this point thirst was battling the cold for his attention. Plus, it was getting harder to distract himself from either. He was incredibly stiff from the frigid temperatures and worse yet, he really had no inclination to get up and fix the problem. It wasn't that he'd given up, he just didn't want to waste the little energy he felt he had left to do anything major. A few shifts here or there, a flexing of the elbows or stretching of his legs was about all he could do. It helped a little, but not enough for Hotch to feel like his body was responding the way that it should, without stiffness, cracking, and a little pain. He turned toward the window, hoping to see something that could be considered good news.

What he saw definitely was. A single ray of sunshine. It was such a small thing, yet it had an enormous impact on Hotch's mood. They hadn't seen even a glimpse of sunshine in days. Hotch had to share this with JJ. It was their first moment of hope for escape since they'd wound up in the ditch.

"JJ. Look."

He'd been expecting an immediate response since the excitement in his voice was so obvious. She wouldn't have had any trouble picking it out in a heartbeat. He hadn't expected to get nothing from her. Not at all.

"JJ?" he asked again, a flicker of worry entering his voice.

When a shake of her shoulders still got him no response, Hotch's blood ran cold. Or colder than it already was at least.

"Come on, JJ. Give me something."

Hotch pressed his fingers to her neck, hoping desperately to find a pulse. When he felt the steady beat a bit of tension left him. She was alive, but if she remained asleep he wasn't sure how much longer she would be.

They were so close. So very close. The team had to be coming. He would not lose her now.

"JJ! JJ!" He shook her, rocked her head back and forth, and even patted her cheeks. Anything he could think of to wake her up, he'd tried.

All of the hope he'd had just moments before evaporated. Protecting the team, protecting JJ, was his job. So far he'd managed to do that well enough. Until now. Now he wasn't sure if he had the skills to continue protecting her since he was out of ideas. That realization clawed at him and pierced his very soul. Hotch couldn't let himself fail in this, so he wouldn't stop trying. Somewhere deep down though, in a place he kept trying to ignore, he had to realize that all of his attempts might not be enough to succeed.

Funny how much of a difference there was between hope and hopeless. Such a huge difference four tiny letters could make.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

JJ had no idea that Hotch was doing everything in his power to wake her. She was floating in darkness. Amazingly enough she felt warm and kind of tingly too.

It was so calm and peaceful. Here she could put all of her worries aside. Staying like this would be good. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be here, wanting to be warm. Nothing wrong with it at all, right?

She felt a tiny nagging feeling that there was something wrong with that. Something very wrong with it. She just didn't know what it was or why it was bothering her.

It couldn't be anything big though. If it had been, she would have remembered it for sure.

No. It couldn't be big. Just something small. Something she could let go of easily enough. Whatever it was.

"_Mommy! Mommy look!"_


	19. Chapter 19 Voices

Chapter Nineteen – Voices

What? Who had said that?

"_Look, mommy! Look!"_

It was a voice she knew well. She could have never forgotten who it belonged to, yet JJ realized she couldn't put a name to it. Nobody else was out there in the darkness either, so nobody could really be saying anything in the first place.

"_It looks like a puppy, mommy! See? See?"_

A puppy? What did?

She struggled toward the voice, needing to know who it belonged to, but trying to move felt like she was wading through waist deep mud. It shouldn't have been that hard. JJ wasn't sure how long she fought to reach the owner of the voice, but finally the darkness was beginning to lighten.

"_Right here! See?"_

Henry. That's who it belonged to. The moment she knew that, Henry came into focus, pointing at the window she had been seeing for the past three days. He seemed to be referring to a specific pattern in the crystals of ice gracing the SUV's window.

"_This is the nose and these are the ears,"_ her five year old son explained as he traced each line with a finger.

"_And the eyes!"_

Henry thrust a finger from each hand at the two vaguely circular designs as he turned his head to look at her. JJ smiled gently and reached out to touch his head. When she couldn't seem to reach him, panic flooded through her.

"Henry!"

"_That's not your window, Cher."_

She knew that voice too. How could she not when the southern accent was so obvious?

"Will?" JJ turned to find him standing there behind her, a soft, lopsided smile on his face.

"_Your window ain't here. You need to get back to yours." _

"What are you talking about?"

"_Go back to it, Sweetheart. I left you a present there."_

JJ reached for her husband, fiancé, boyfriend. She couldn't remember what term they were officially using now. Will just shook his head though.

"I don't understand. Will, what's going on?"

"_You have to go back. Henry's puppy is on that window. You want to see it, right?"_

"Y-yes, but…"

"_You hear that, Cher?"_ He fell silent a moment, head tipped back toward the way she'd come.

"There's nothing there, Will."

"_Listen. Do you hear it?"_

She heard something, but it was muffled and she had no idea what it was. When she started to ask, Will placed a finger to his lips. JJ immediately closed her mouth, listening again.

Her name?

JJ wasn't sure, but the longer she listened the clearer what she heard became.

"JJ!"

"_See, Cher? You're bein' called."_

"JJ! Damn it, JJ! Come on!" The words were getting louder now and a lot harder to ignore.

JJ turned toward Will again, confusion in her eyes. She didn't know what to do.

"_Go."_

"I…"

"Jennifer!" There was that voice again. She ignored it for a moment longer, needing to ask one more question.

"Wait. You said you left something?"

"_You'll know it when you see it. First big present I ever gave you."_

"Will…"

"Agent Jareau!"

At first, JJ was confused. The darkness was gone. No, not exactly. It was just different. She could feel someone shaking her, and it was cold again. Slowly, very slowly, she forced her eyes open.

"Hotch?"


	20. Chapter 20 Madness and Peace

Chapter Twenty – Madness and Peace

Those familiar blue eyes staring back at him made Hotch's heart leap. The tense knot that had been tightening in his stomach ever since he'd first tried to wake her and failed slowly loosened. Thank God. She was back.

"Hotch?" she repeated, obviously bewildered.

"Welcome back." His voice broke on the words, and he bowed his head.

If JJ had been feeling like herself, she would have immediately recognized his relief. It was so visible. So obvious. Hotch's eyes were closed, and he seemed limp. After a few slow, steadying breaths, Agent Hotchner opened his eyes again, locking and holding them on JJ's. JJ wasn't sure what to say in response to his odd behavior. He actually looked like he was afraid.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you alright?" Again, there was that touch of fear and tension. What on earth had gotten him so worked up? She took a moment to do a silent inventory before answering.

"Just cold. And tired. Really tired."

He caught her hand and squeezed hard, causing her to wince and yank away.

"Don't fall asleep," he warned.

"What's gotten into you?"

"I couldn't wake you up, JJ. No matter what I did, you wouldn't open your eyes. Ten minutes of hell."

This time she could see the despair that was still floating around on his face. He'd been terrified for her. She rested a gentle hand on top of his reassuringly.

"I'm back, Hotch."

He smiled one of his rare smiles which she returned weakly.

"I wanted to show you something," Hotch told her as he gently helped her into a sitting position. He nodded toward the window.

When JJ looked her breath caught. There was actually a ray of sunlight shining through, lighting the tendrils of ice with a soft golden glow. It really was beautiful. What being able to see sunlight actually meant for the two of them hadn't dawned on her yet. She was too focused on the icy window instead.

"He was right," she whispered.

"What?"

Hotch watched as she reached out toward the window, her entire arm shaking with the effort and cold. When she placed her fingers against the glass, looking completely at peace, Hotch realized that he was at a loss. He had no idea what was going on.

"JJ?" he prodded again.

"A puppy. See?"

Her boss frowned, becoming worried about his coworker again. She was losing it. Where was all of this coming from?

Almost as if she'd heard the question, JJ continued, "Henry pointed it out, and Will said it would be here too."

Hotch's worry doubled. Henry and Will weren't here. They were back at home in Virginia.

"It was just a dream, but it felt so real."

She turned toward him, a quiet little smile on her face until she saw the fear filling his eyes. He thought she'd gone mad from the cold, which she found was incredibly irritating.

"I'm not crazy, Hotch," JJ demanded.

"Right. Of course not."

JJ didn't believe him for a second, but she let it go. Hotch could think what he wanted. She had something else to find. Will's present.

She turned back toward the window, searching for the shape she knew had to be hidden someplace in the ice. A star surrounded by a circular band. It wasn't anywhere near perfect, but there it was. Will's detective's badge. He'd left it for her in a letter the day she'd told him she was pregnant with Henry.

Feeling much more content now, she settled easily against Hotch.

"They have to be on their way," he said softly, more to reassure himself than her, though he didn't let it come across that way.

"I know."


	21. Chapter 21 One Hour Max

Chapter Twenty One – One Hour Max

As the police chief had promised, when 2:30 had rolled around they'd all left the station. Prentiss and Reid had gone after Karl Milton while Rossi and Morgan headed toward Hotch and JJ's location with the police chief.

At 2:57, Morgan couldn't help feeling like they had made absolutely no progress. He'd tried thinking about what Prentiss and Reid were up to, whether they'd reached their first search location or not. They might have. In fact, they might have already succeeded in getting Milton. That thought only made Morgan's irritation worse. Wishful thinking or not, Prentiss and Reid could have already achieved their mission, the one that was less important in his opinion, and here he and Rossi were without any positive moves forward. At least none large enough to satisfy him. It took all of his willpower not to demand to know how much further they had to go. Again.

He felt like an old record stuck repeating the same line over and over and over again. Or like one of those little kids that asked "Are we there yet?" every five seconds. It was getting annoying, yet he still hadn't gotten the answer he wanted. They still weren't there yet. Not yet.

Damn it.

"Breathe, Morgan," Rossi reminded as he continued driving them slowly toward the missing members of the team.

"I'm trying, man. I just need some good news here."

Rossi nodded, completely understanding. He would be feeling the same way if he hadn't been driving. Driving gave him something to focus on. It made him feel like he was actually doing something to help his friends.

They both were, but it would take a little more time. Rossi honestly prayed that Morgan would have the patience to make it that long without blowing up.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

"Garcia. Come on, Baby Girl. Please tell me something I want to hear," Morgan pleaded after another fifteen minutes. They'd met the ambulances a short time ago. Now all they needed was to reach their desired destination.

"_You are absolutely God-like, and I could never imagine my life without you."_

That at least got a smile from Derek. Apparently Garcia was feeling a lot better now that they were all on their way to rescuing Hotch and JJ.

"As great as that is, Garcia, I was hoping for something else."

"_And I have that for you too, oh center of my universe. You're about a mile away from the signal location. You should be spotting the SUV soon."_

Morgan sighed with relief. Finally.

"Thank you."

"_You go save my babies and bring them home. And Morgan? You better tell me how they are the minute you get news or I swear I will fill your office with all of the smelly, disgusting, puketastic food that's been lost in the back of my fridge for months. Kevin's fridge too… which is probably even worse."_

"You'll know when I know, Momma. Promise."

When Morgan ended the call he immediately turned to focus on the scenery moving slowly past them. He knew Rossi would handle his side of the car, but Morgan couldn't prevent his eyes from slipping that way every once and awhile anyways.

Somewhere out there was a lone SUV with two freezing FBI agents waiting inside.

Somewhere out there…

Wait.

"Rossi! There! There! Pull over!"


	22. Chapter 22 Just in Time

Chapter Twenty Two – Just in Time

If Hotch hadn't known that the team was on their way, if he hadn't kept that thought firmly in mind, he wasn't sure if he would have had the drive to fight off the exhaustion. Worry, the cold, and being awake for over twenty four hours straight was dragging him down.

Most of the time he'd squeezed JJ's hand within the last half hour it had been for his own benefit. He had to prove to himself that he was awake, which was why he had squeezed her hand again a moment ago.

JJ mumbled something incoherent in response. For once, Hotch didn't even bother to force her to repeat herself. Usually he did since he wanted to make sure she was still thinking rationally. This time though he was just too tired. Knowing JJ was awake, at least partially, was enough.

He should have noticed that JJ's breathing had slowed a little, and she was becoming less and less responsive, but he couldn't. His brain was in a fog that he couldn't push away. He'd been able to hold her up and keep her together the entire time they'd been here, but he wasn't able to do it anymore. They were going to have to hold each other up if they could. He just wasn't sure if either one of them had the strength to do it.

Hotch leaned his head back against the seat and took a deep breath. There hadn't been very many times in his life when he'd felt so defeated. The only other time was when he'd realized Foyet had Haley.

"Haley… please give me the strength to hold on just a little bit longer."

A sudden loud bang on the window nearest him startled Hotch out of his thoughts. He turned his head slowly, eyes dull. At first he could only blink at the distorted image of another person outside of the car. Ordering his thoughts enough to think logically was too hard, and he didn't want to get his hopes up.

When another bang resounded against the car Hotch blinked again, still clearly befuddled.

"Hotch! Hotch, open the door!"

Morgan. Shaking his head, Hotch forced himself into action. He reached out for the door, trying to hit the unlock button. Habit had made him keep the doors locked the whole time even though nobody was likely to run into them. He fumbled weakly with the lock, missing three or four times before his fingers finally connected.

The second the door was unlocked, Morgan yanked it open. Hotch looked awful, like there was nothing left inside of him.

"Hotch, man, hang in there. We're going to get you to a hospital, alright?"

When his boss didn't answer right away, Morgan reached out and gave him a jerky shake.

"Hotch!"

That seemed to do the trick. Hotch visibly pulled himself together enough to speak.

"JJ first."

Morgan glanced at the blonde woman curled up against Hotch. So far she hadn't reacted to his presence at all. Fearing the worst, he reached into the SUV, pointedly ignoring the smell, and tried to find her neck through the various layers of clothing.

"How is she?" he asked, more to keep Hotch talking than anything else.

"In and out," Hotch mumbled.

Morgan nodded and felt his fears recede as he found a pulse. Reaching back to grab the blanket Rossi was holding out to him, Morgan gently draped it over JJ. She stirred slightly as he moved her.

"JJ? It's Morgan. I need you to help me out a little here, okay?"

He wasn't sure if he'd gotten an answer or not, but he started pulling her toward the door anyway. Crouching down, Morgan prepared to lift her up.

"Can you put your arms around my neck, Jay?"

Rossi watched nervously from behind Morgan for a second, unsure if JJ would even be able to do what she'd been asked. When he saw her slowly trying to wrap her arms around Morgan, Rossi turned to the front passenger's door and crawled in.

Hotch spotted him from the back seat and managed a weak, "Dave."

"Hey, Aaron. Take this and wrap it around yourself, alright?" Dave directed as he held out the second blanket.

It took Hotch longer to put the blanket on than it should have and gave Rossi a clear view of just how much his friend was shaking. They'd made it just in time.


	23. Chapter 23 Reversal of Roles

Chapter Twenty Three – Reversal of Roles

Morgan carried JJ slowly up the ramp they'd spread over the snow going down the ditch. JJ could only help so much with how weak she was, and Morgan could barely feel her grip around his neck. While JJ was a tiny thing, he was grateful for the ramp's help. Climbing up the incline in snow that rose over his boots would have been asking for disaster, and Morgan didn't want to drop her.

"I need medics!" he cried out as he crested the top of the ditch.

He hadn't needed to since the medics had come rushing toward them with a gurney the second they'd spotted Morgan. The instant he rested her down on it there was a flurry of activity that pushed him away. Morgan held back his irritation, knowing these people were the ones who could help her now.

As they started moving her toward the ambulance, the questions started. Morgan pulled his eyes off of JJ's pale face and met the paramedic's eyes.

"What's her name? How old is she?"

"Jennifer Jareau. Mid thirties," he answered.

Reid would have known JJ's exact age and the exact time she'd been born down to the second. Morgan would just have to make do with a general age range. The paramedic seemed to accept that though and continued to question him as they loaded JJ into the back.

"Any medical conditions? Do you know when she's due?"

Morgan climbed in after her. He desperately wanted to hold her hand and reassure her that everything was going to be fine, but he stayed back and let the medic work. Again he'd been asked a question that Reid would have been able to answer a lot better than him.

He fought back the desire to tell them JJ was allergic to BS since it wasn't exactly an appropriate time for a joking response.

"Not that I know of, and she's seven months along which means, what, May? June?"

Without bothering to comment on Morgan's apparent lack of complete answers, the paramedic continued on.

"How long was she out there?"

Morgan swallowed hard, feeling sick at the answer.

"Two and a half days."

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

With Rossi supporting Hotch's weight on one side and the local police chief on the other, the BAU's unit chief slowly made his way out of the ditch. The others had given the weakened agent the ramp while they trudged through the snow along side him. It was a good thing they had too since Hotch could barely keep his feet under him and had tripped on the snow-free surface more than once already. Hotch's unsteadiness only got worse when he tried to speak.

"Ja-"

"Aaron, save it."

Between the two of them, Rossi wasn't the one who gave the orders. Despite the reverse in their seniority, Hotch had the lead. That meant Hotch didn't receive orders from the rest of the team; he gave them. Rossi was the only one who could try to order Hotch around when the need arose.

"At least until we're up on top please," Hotch's former mentor added.

Actually obeying, Hotch fell silent until the paramedics had gotten him into the ambulance. He brushed off the medic's attempt to get an oxygen mask over his face, eyes focused on Dave instead.

"JJ?"

"On her way to the hospital," Rossi assured with a squeeze of the younger man's shoulder. "And before you ask, yes, Morgan is staying with her. Now let him put the mask on, Aaron."

Hotch stopped fighting so the medic could secure the oxygen mask's elastic strap behind his head. After taking a few deep breaths to organize his thoughts, Hotch spoke up again.

"You should be looking for Milton."

The words came out a bit slurred, but Rossi got the point.

"Trust your team."

Hotch took a shuddering breath and closed his eyes, relaxing his body into the blankets that had been wrapped around him. He didn't need to worry anymore.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Well guys, we're rolling to an end here. As of tomorrow night, this story will be complete. Bear with me a little longer.<p> 


	24. Chapter 24 Prognosis

Chapter Twenty Four- Prognosis

"You got him?" Rossi asked when he spotted Reid and Prentiss making their way toward him in the hospital's waiting room.

"Yeah," Reid confirmed with a small smile on his face. "Second place we checked."

His happiness over Milton's capture was shadowed only by JJ and Hotch's unknown status. Prentiss, however, was glowing and still beyond amused at what had happened a few hours ago.

"You should have seen his face!" she laughed. "The second he spotted us his face went pure white, and he tried to bolt."

"I don't understand why," Reid added. Obviously it was a stupid idea since Milton had been surrounded with nowhere to go.

"Tripped on his shoelaces, Rossi! Can you believe it?"

Rossi smiled. Though the chase certainly sounded like it had been entertaining, he didn't regret going with Morgan for a second.

"Well, we did say he was unorganized."

Neither Prentiss nor Reid had the chance to respond to that before another familiar voice reached them.

"No, doll face. You aren't flying down here to see them. They'll be fine," Morgan told the only member of their team who wasn't currently in the hospital over the phone as he approached the others, cup of coffee in hand.

"_But I w-" _

"I said no, Garcia. We'll be back soon anyway so just relax. I'll call you when we're set to leave."

"She didn't take that very well I take it," Emily mused after Morgan had hung up.

"Not exactly, but she'll be fine."

"And JJ and Hotch?" Reid questioned as he nervously shifted from foot to foot. If he thought about it logically if something had been really wrong he knew Rossi would have already told them, but that didn't stop Reid from being as nervous as he was anyway.

"Hypothermic and dehydrated," Rossi explained, "but the docs are running IVs and getting Hotch warmed up. They didn't seem overly worried when I spoke to them. Apparently he's been demanding coffee for the last half hour."

That caused a quiet round of laughter to circulate through the group. If Hotch was showing that much of his annoyingly strong determination to get what he wanted when he wanted it they had nothing to worry about. Especially since they weren't the target of his demands.

"And JJ?" Emily questioned, not fully able to keep the nervous quiver from her voice.

"Same thing minus the coffee," Morgan told her. "JJ's temp is really low, but they say she seems like a fighter which we know is true. Her baby's heart rate was slower than they would like too. Still, they think she and the baby will be fine, but they aren't going to take any chances."

Morgan shrugged, knowing it wasn't as much information as they would have wanted. He'd had to fight to get that much though. At least what he had gotten pointed mostly toward good news.

"Should I call Will now?" he asked, not sure if it would make sense to wait for more information or not.

"Call him," Rossi confirmed. "Even if we don't know a lot, he'll want to know they both seem to be okay."

Morgan nodded and headed back to a non-cell phone restricted area to make his call.

"So now we wait," Emily murmured.

"Now we wait," Rossi repeated.

"Any idea how long until we can see them?" Reid asked. He seemed at least slightly less wound up than he had earlier. The more information he had the more in control he felt.

"Been long enough already," Rossi grumbled. Had any doctors walked by just then he would have shot them a death glare regardless of if they had anything to do with Hotch or JJ.

"Patience is a virtue, Rossi," Emily teased gently. When he turned his glare on her she hurried to add on, "But it probably won't be much longer."

"Did you know that that phrase is traced as far back as 1377? It was then read in print in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_ and can be connected to Latin and French sayings of a similar meaning."

Emily and Rossi signed, sitting down to wait while trying to ignore Reid's fact spewing.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Last chapter goes up tonight! As a side note, I'm not medically knowledgeable. While I did to a bit of research, I'm trying to leave the entire medical part mostly open ended since I'll likely get it wrong anyway.<p> 


	25. Chapter 25 Priceless

Chapter Twenty Five – Priceless

It had taken the doctors another hour before they had allowed Hotch or JJ any visitors. Prentiss and Reid had immediately gone to check on their blonde friend. Both were stunned at the amount of wires and monitors the doctors had attached to her. Reid quickly assured Emily that most of them seemed to be there for precaution and not direct treatment.

"She's so pale," Emily whispered as she sat down and took JJ's hand.

JJ was sound asleep and didn't even notice. Reid stood behind Emily, watching JJ with worried eyes.

"She looks even tinier than usual too."

"Reid, she's seven months pregnant. That's not really possible."

"But she looks so dwarfed, though I guess it's the bed and all of the blankets and stuff."

"The doctors say she'll be fine, and we both know that JJ isn't one to give up."

Reid felt a grin tugging at his lips.

"She's almost as bad as Hotch."

Emily immediately returned the grin, knowing full well that he was right.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

"I brought you a present. You should thank me and stop whining. You're driving the nurses nuts," Rossi told his boss a few rooms over from JJ, Reid, and Emily.

He handed the extra cup of coffee he was carrying over. Hotch took it gratefully.

"If they had just gotten me one it would have been much easier," he grumbled to the two agents standing near his bed.

Morgan and Rossi smartly stayed silent about how their unit chief probably wasn't supposed to have coffee at all yet. They hadn't needed to say anything anyway. It wasn't news to Hotch.

After a sip of the hot drink and the glorious feeling of it warming Hotch all the way down to his stomach, things seemed infinitely better. Not great since he was still stuck in a hospital bed, but at least better.

"How did you sneak this in anyway?" Hotch asked, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"I didn't," Rossi answered smugly. "I just carried it in."

"And they didn't question why you had two?"

Rossi scoffed like he couldn't believe Hotch was even asking.

"Of course they did. I just said I was an FBI agent, and FBI agents drink a lot of coffee."

"And they bought that?" Hotch asked skeptically.

"Don't worry man," Morgan laughed. "I couldn't believe they bought it either."

Hotch took another sip of his coffee before turning to grill his teammates about more important matters.

"How's JJ doing?"

"Weak," Morgan began, "but she'll be fine. They both will. Reid and Prentiss are with her now."

"Milton?"

"Locked up at the station waiting to be interrogated. Reid and Prentiss found him at the second location they checked. Said it was pretty eventful in an amusing way too," Rossi answered.

Hotch nodded and took another slow sip of his coffee. It was atrocious, but it was _coffee_. After one more glance between the two agents, Hotch turned his eyes down to his cup and spoke again.

"Seems like Prentiss and Reid did all of the work."

Morgan's jaw dropped. Had that been a joke? From Hotch? Before he could ask, Rossi stepped in.

"Seems to me that we would have been able to do more work if a certain idiot hadn't gotten his car stuck in a ditch."

Rossi grinned down at Hotch and received a small, wry smile in return.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

When JJ had woken, she hadn't gotten a chance to get any questions in. Emily and Reid had swamped her with various demands along the lines of whether she was okay and how she was feeling. Once they'd been thoroughly reassured that she was fine for the tenth time, she was able to ask her own questions. Almost all of them followed the same trend as Hotch's had.

"So the case is almost over, huh?" she asked softly once her questions had been answered, her voice still gritty and weak.

"Yeah, Jayje. We just need to interrogate the bastard and see if we can get a confession, then get you and Hotch clearance to fly before we're gone," Emily promised.

"Will knows I'm okay?"

"Will knows. Morgan called," Reid assured his friend. She seemed to be drifting back toward sleep already.

Emily had noticed it too and patted JJ's hand.

"Why don't we let you get some more rest."

"Okay."

As the two agents were heading for the door, JJ called out to them.

"Reid?"

"Yeah, JJ?"

"I have a question for you."

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

Emily and Reid joined Rossi and Morgan in Hotch's room a short time later.

"JJ has a message for you," Emily told her boss. "She didn't really explain it though."

Hotch looked up at her questioningly.

"Pawpaw."

He just stared blankly at her, unsure what that was supposed to mean and even more unsure why JJ had felt the need to send it to him as a message. Reid noticed Hotch's obvious confusion over that answer and explained the little bit that he could.

"It's a fruit. Actually, did you know that the pawpaw is Ohio's official state native fruit?"

Emily, Morgan, and Rossi had stopped listening to their young genius when they saw Hotch's flash of recognition and amused smile. Apparently it meant a lot more to him than it did to them.

"What am I missing?" Morgan demanded.

"That woman hates to lose," Hotch replied with a quick shake of his head.

The others still didn't understand, but their stubborn leader would say no more. They soon decided to leave Hotch on his own to rest so they could get started on Milton and food. In a different order of course.

"I'll be right there," Rossi told the others as they headed out the door. "Just give me a second."

He turned to eye Hotch intently. There was still one thing he wanted to know.

"Care to tell me why you ended up in that ditch, Aaron?"

Hotch returned the look solidly, nothing showing on his face. He remained completely silent for a moment, still giving nothing away. If it had been anyone else asking, Hotch wouldn't have answered, but Dave was his friend and had been for a long time. That made things different.

"A deer."

Rossi couldn't believe that Hotch had managed to say that with such a straight face. Maybe his friend hadn't seen the complete ridiculousness of the answer. Well then, Rossi would have to enlighten him, complete with the same serious expression and tone of voice he'd just been given by Hotch.

"You do realize that we deal with the most horrific and dangerous people and wind up in some seriously fucked up situations almost everyday, yet you don't almost die because of any of that. You almost get killed by a deer. A deer for God's sake."

"I'm aware."

One second of serious silence, then both Hotch and Rossi broke down into hysterical laughter. It took a bit, but Rossi finally managed to get one more word out.

"Priceless."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Well, there you have it, the end of the story. Thank you to everyone who's been following and reading this. You've all been wonderful. Seriously, just knowing so many people were enjoying it really boosted my confidence. To those of you who have been giving me such awesome reviews, there simply aren't words for how much it means. So thanks, really.<p>

For those of you who enjoy my writing, I have another story already set and ready to go. Or, at least, mostly set and ready to go. I still need to finish typing the last bit and proof read it, but that shouldn't take long. I'll probably start getting it uploaded in the next few days. It's not JJ and Hotch centric; however, they are the bigger focus compared to the rest of the team.


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